Theater

Arts & Entertainment - SEASON PREVIEW - Best bets

August 29, 1999|By Elizabeth Maupin, Sentinel Theater Critic

The musical Ragtime was just one of a pair of blockbusters (along with Disney's The Lion King) when it opened early last year on Broadway. But this sweeping vision of the American experience, based on E.L. Doctorow's best-selling 1970s novel, is likely to hit Central Florida big when the Orlando Broadway Series brings its national tour to Carr Performing Arts Centre late next month. Playwright Terrence McNally has captured the mournful, celebratory tone of this singular novel about the melting-pot of America, and songwriters Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens have created a musical score with all the grandeur that subject implies. Like America itself, Ragtime is rich.